Light Minestrone with Chicken Meatballs

Yes, you're right my dear friends. It's the end of June. The temperatures are squelchingly hot. My windows literally sweat with condensation during the day because of the temperature differences between my cool, comfortable house inside in comparison with the sauna/steam room that is the Okinawa summer. Egads, it's freaking hot. So why on Earth would you want to make soup in the middle of summer? 

Soft Black Pepper Pretzels + Neighborhood Snapshots

A Pretzel Haiku:

Bread twist that is soft.

With salt, has the perfect taste.

How I love you so.

Did you know that Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry? I'm sure I learned that at some point in my high school English class, but since then those fun little facts have been pushed out of my brain to make room for non-fun adult type things, like bills and how to file taxes (without stabbing yourself in the eye repeatedly). Boo! Hiss!

Quinoa Burgers with Chipotle Mayo

How difficult do you think it would be to trick an Oklahoma born & raised, red-blooded American man into absolutely loving a veggie burger? Yeah, I thought it was going to be tough as well, until I made these.

Leek Latkes

Passover (or as my friend Natalie says in Hebrew, 'Pesach') was this week, which means I heard the collective groan of my Jewish friends around the world as they refrained from eating leavened bread for 8 days. Many non-Jews in America don't really know much about Passover, (including myself!) other than it starts with a Seder in which matzo balls are involved. The Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke tout that the Seder that marked the start of Passover was also the Last Supper, which is pretty darn cool if it's true.

Apple Cinnamon Waffles

I have been on a breakfast kick lately. There could be worse things to enjoy often, right? Truthfully I first made these waffles for one of Travis' last breakfasts before he left on deployment, and then again for the Super Bowl, since it was on at 7:30 am here in Japan. Third time being the charm that it is, I made these waffles again this past week, for a brinner for one. It was heavenly.

Rosa Parks' Featherlite Pancakes

How do you feel about breakfast in bed? Are you a person who hates a couple of crumbs in the sheets or would it be your ideal way to wake up? I can’t decide whether I think it’d be the best way to wake up for Valentine’s Day or a stress-fest since I prefer to be in control in the kitchen and would be involuntarily critiquing anything my incredible husband brought in for me. It also doesn’t help that I’m an extremely light sleeper and wouldn’t be able to keep myself in bed while he was in the kitchen cooking.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

I am on a soup kick lately- the weather here has been absolutely perfect for it. It's "winter" here in Okinawa, which means temperatures in the 50's, overcast and rainy. It's not the winter I would prefer, but I'll take what I can get. Just like the 30 Minute Chicken Noodle Soup I posted the other day, this recipe is high flavor, low maintenance. 

Back to Basics : 30 Minute Chicken Noodle Soup

If you believe that delicious, healthy, and homemade soup requires tons of skill and hours upon hours of simmering time on the stove- listen up! You. Are. Wrong.

Back to Basics : Lighter Basil Pesto

It's been a while since we've done a Back to Basics, hasn't it? For that, I apologize. I have been waiting rather impatiently for my kitchen garden to grow in order to do this post for you. The fact that my kitchen garden has actually produced living, edible things is a mini-miracle in itself.... I certainly did not inherit my mother's impeccable green thumb. This pesto is certainly a sauce you want to have in your recipe arsenal, especially when the spring basil starts hitting the grocery stores in a few weeks!

Japanese Gyoza with Spicy Dipping Sauce

I have about 5 other recipes I've been needing to write about on here, but I just can't wait another day before posting this one. Y'all, this is by far the BEST gyoza I have ever tasted.... and I've lived in Japan for 2 years. Crazy, right? Isn't it supposed to be that the local foods are better than what I make in my kitchen for the first time?

Super Sloppy Joes

I grew up on sloppy joes from a packet. Travis grew up on the ones from a can. Ho-hum and woah salty! In an effort to get away from overly processed foods, I decided to try to make my own. It was WAY easier than I thought it would be! I even ground my own beef for this recipe, which by the way is also incredibly easy if you have the attachment for your mixer!

Back to Basics : Beef Stock

So here we go with the next installment of Back to Basics. For those of you just joining, I like to post these über simple recipes that I believe everyone should know how to make. So far, we've done Vanilla Syrup to naturally flavor your coffee, Scrambled Eggs so you never have rubbery eggs again, and 10 Minute Croutons, which use hot dog buns to whip these up for salads and wraps.

Mexican Breakfast Burritos

Until about 8 months ago, I had never had chorizo sausage before. An injustice to my taste buds, yes, I know. One of my coworkers, Alex, was kind enough to bring several of these burritos to work for us one day, and immediately I asked her for the recipe. "So easy," she said, and boy is it ever! It doesn't taste like it only takes 15 minutes, either, that is for sure. I've tried to make up for the lack of chorizo in my live by making a few different styles of breakfast burritos, all of which have been wonderful, but never as good as Alex's original recipe.

Baked Chicken and Spinach Flautas

If you've read some of my blog posts, you know that if a dish has chicken and spinach in it, more than likely I will make, devour, love and rave about it. These baked chicken flautas are no exception. And they're baked, not fried! Bonus!

World's Best Lasagna

Here-ye, here-ye -- friends and fellow pasta lovers!

Behold, the last lasagna recipe you will ever need!

I have declared, for the official record of my household and, well, for the rest of my natural cooking life that this lasagna is by far the best one I've tried yet.

Juicy Grilled Turkey Burgers

I haven't posted in a month. I've been meaning to, I've been kind of disenchanted with the whole food blogging thing lately. Not really sure why, but I just haven't been able to dig up the motivation to write about my recent dishes. I have not had a lot of feedback about my blog from the vast reaches of the internet either, so I guess I'm feeling discouraged.

Hamburger Buns

So it seems like everyone is making homemade hamburger patties for Memorial Day. I've decided to make something that's a little less common... Buns! In my opinion, they take the hamburgers to a completely new level. Soft, fresh, with loads of flavor- these babies are wonderful!

Handmade Ravioli

Oh my I love pasta. I mean, who doesn't?? When we were living in the States some of the grocery stores had fresh pasta made in house available for purchase. Now that we live in Japan and the starch of choice is, of course, rice.... not so much. Naturally the solution to that problem is to make your own! It's been something I've wanted to do for a while now, anyway, and not having it available is just the kick in the motivational pants I needed. 

Meat Lover's Bolognese

When Travis and I got married, one of the things I wanted to learn how to make was his favorite pasta sauce his mom would make for her three sons growing up. She made vats of it at a time, because lets face it, three boys would probably eat a whole pot of it with a spoon as a pre-dinner "snack." 

It's a very meaty sauce. Meaty, chunky, with just a few veggies in there. Very manly.

Chicken Pot Pie Pockets

Chicken pot pie is one of my very most favorite foods. Comfort, veggies, bread-y crust, creamy sauce- what's not to love?? My only qualm with traditional pot pies is that there is never enough crust. Blame it on my inherent need to dip breads into soups if you must. A higher crust to filling ratio is essential for pot pie nirvana. .....Too radical you say? Do not judge my zealous views about pot pie until you have tried these.